Interlude 001: PhD Qualifying Exams

07/28/16 • -1 min

http://iamkuhan.com/ExpertCitation/ExpertCitationInterlude001.mp3

This is the first part of a miniseries within the show on what graduate school is like.

On this episode, Kelsey and Tyler talk about PhD Qualifying Examinations, or “quals” as they’re often called. They go in a little bit of detail about the grad school culture surrounding it and how quals may be very different from school to school and may be very different even in different programs in the same institution.

It’s really interesting and I strongly recommend you give this a listen if you intend on going to graduate school.

The Show: @expertcitation
Kelsey: @advsinchem
Tyler: @TylerJBurch

http://iamkuhan.com/ExpertCitation/ExpertCitationInterlude001.mp3

This is the first part of a miniseries within the show on what graduate school is like.

It’s really interesting and I strongly recommend you give this a listen if you intend on going to graduate school.

The Show: @expertcitation
Kelsey: @advsinchem
Tyler: @TylerJBurch

Previous Episode

Episode 002: Genetics, General Education, and Geodude

http://iamkuhan.com/ExpertCitation/ExpertCitation002.mp3

Rimfeld, et al. 2016. Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement. Scientific Reports.

In this episode, we discuss genetics, psychology, and how much Pokemon GO has ruined our productivity. We get really deep about what education means as well as the further implications of concluding things with insufficient evidence in science.

We also talk about Pokemon. Like, a lot. It’s helpful that Pokemon is literally teaching impressionable small children how to be field biologists. How do you think two of our hosts wound up in biology? Pokemon, my friend. Pokemon.

They’ve even invaded Kelsey’s lab.

P.S. This week’s paper is Tyler’s fault and he can’t even spell his own last name.

The Show: @expertcitation
Joe: @JoeMCuevas
Kelsey: @advsinchem
Tyler: @TylerJBurch

Next Episode

Interlude 002: The Magic of Psychology with Dr. Billy San Juan

http://iamkuhan.com/ExpertCitation/ExpertCitationInterlude002.mp3

This episode was recorded at San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

Joe goes to Comic-Con every year. This year, he was adamant that he’d be able to find science at a science fiction convention, so he met up with his good friend Dr. Billy San Juan, who writes extensively on psychology in popular culture and holds a PsyD. They talked about a couple of different things, but mostly focused on the psychology of Magic: the Gathering and other trading card games.

Billy San Juan holds a PsyD and is a Magic: the Gathering Judge. He has participated in and hosted several panels at pop culture conventions.

A lot of this discussion is about personality in both the community and the story elements of Magic: the Gathering, though we also touched on Batman and had a further discussion on the role of science fiction in driving science fact. This is San Diego Comic-Con, after all.

Some notes:

The three player psychographic profiles were created by Mark Rosewater. There’s an interesting article on them here, and Billy and I actually ran into Mark soon after this interview.
Joe references “limited” as a format and Billy mentions that drafts are also “limited.” Both sealed deck and draft are subsets of limited formats, where you are presented a “limited” pool of cards at the event with which to construct a deck. Joe was referencing limited in terms of sealed, sometimes used for Grand Prix and Pre-Release events.
Slivers are a hive-minded race in the Magic multiverse. In-game, they share abilities and power with other slivers. They appeared in both Magic 2014 and Magic 2015, as well as several older sets.
Judges know the rules of Magic. That does not mean they are good at Magic.
Brian Kibler was at the panel! He talked about how being a geek has more or less shaped his entire career and livelihood, but that’s a different discussion altogether.
Dr. Travis Langley wrote Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Night and has contributed to several other publications on the interface between popular culture and psychology. Dr. San Juan has contributed to a couple of them!
We’re actually talking about the final episode of Justice League Unlimited: “Epilogue.” It’s available on Netflix right now–Season 2, Episode 26. We get to see some more of the complexity behind Batman on it.
Alan Kistler is a pop culture historian and consulting geek. He has a great podcast called “Crazy Sexy Geeks” on iTunes and SoundCloud which I highly recommend and is also the author of Doctor Who: A History and has co-authored chapters with Billy in The Walking Dead Psychology and Captain America vs. Iron Man: Freedom, Security, Psychology.
Dr. Janina Scarlet is a scientist, psychologist, and a full-time geek. She has a book due out this year called Superhero Therapy and has contributed to other literature alongside Drs. Langley and San Juan and Mr. Kistler.